This list covers the entire 4800 acre Andrew Molera State Park (but
primarily these are birds at the Big Sur River mouth), Pt. Sur, the connecting
private and governmental lands, and oceanic waters to 12 n.mi offshore.
It is compiled from all published literature, North America Birds
files going back in the 1950s, the Monterey Peninsula Rare Bird Alert files
back to the early 1980s, Ventana Wildlife Society's Big Sur Ornithology
Lab (BSOL) banding records, and the field notes of Craig Hohenberger, Jeff
N. Davis, Jim Booker and myself. All exceptional vagrants and rarities
are documented by photos or written field descriptions.

In 1996, Ventana Wildlife Society published a complete Birds of Big
Sur checklist by Jeff N. Davis and Don Roberson. It included 360 species
and the status of each was shown through bar graphs. A 2d edition was published
in 2000. The listing below is a rather simplistic list compared to the
information available in the Birds of Big Sur checklist (that checklist
also covers a larger geographic area).

As of 30 Nov 2006, this list has 390 species.

- Don Roberson

Symbols on list:

(B) = breeds in Area. A few others species without symbols
nest in adjacent areas, plus:
(B?) = may breed in area but substantial positive
evidence is lacking
(Bb) = breeds only in "back-country" east of Hwy
1, usually well upslope
(E) = extirpated in Area (formerly resident )
(I) = non-native Introduced resident species
* = rare or vagrant to Area, report locally to Monterey Bay BirdBox:
(831) 626-6605
** = exceptional vagrant, please report immediately to BirdBox &
try to get others to confirm, and then document your observation with photos
or description (send to Box 985, Pacific Grove CA 93950).

California Condor — presumably a regular visitor a century ago but entire
MTY population has long been extirpated. Ventana Wilderness Society is
currently re-introducing condors in hopes of re-establishing a breeding
population. Details are on this site HERE,
but note that no condor in MTY is currently "countable."

Canada Goose — there is a resident introduced population; wild migrants
are rare

Bald Eagle — presumably a regular visitor a century ago but entire MTY
breeding population was extirpated ~1934. Ventana Wilderness Society re-introduced
eagles and succeeded in re-establishing a breeding population in interior
southern MTY. Bald Eagles within the area now could either be from those
re-established population or distant migrants; date and age can be helpful
in determining which is which.

Rock Dove — there are no established introductions within the area; it
is likely that most (all?) of the few records pertain to wandering or lost
racing pigeons.

White Wagtail — a well-photographed bird 28 Sep 1998 was either a White
or a Black-backed Wagtail; identification in this pair is very difficult
and opinions are still split about the '98 individual.

Northern Parula — one or more pairs nested 1998-2001, and a pair hatched
young in 2004, an exceptional occurrence

American Redstart — one pair successfully nested in summer 1997, an exceptional
occurrence